A 2005 study showed that 41 percent of subjects who were instructed to describe a "false memory" of an episode where strawberry ice cream had made them sick later reported that they would avoid the food in the future. The experiment was conducted at the University of California at Irvine by researcher Elizabeth Loftus, famous for her work concerning "false memories" of childhood sexual abuse. Besides serving as fuel for the human body, food and diet are also have a definite impact on people's mental health and well being.
Eating Disorders
With eating disorders, preoccupation with food may overwhelm you, pushing out everything else in your life, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Eating disorders also frequently result in feelings of anxiety, hopelessness, isolation, shame and guilt, partly because of bizarre diet practices such as self-imposed starvation, binge eating and purging with laxatives and by other means. Eating disorders are also often associated with body dysmorphic disorder, which is associated with an extremely distorted, very negative body image. If you have body dysmorphic disorder, you may become obsessed with fixing a very minor or even nonexistent flaw in your appearance, MayoClinic.com explains.
Mental Health Disorders
Many serious mental health disorders may be associated with the typical Western diet, according to a report issued jointly by Sustainweb and the Mental Health Foundation, titled "Feeding Minds." The report cited an increasing imbalance of nutrients, with more emphasis on fats and refined sugars and less consumption of fresh food than in past decades. The report also claimed that this imbalanced diet may be linked with an increase in the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and other mental disorders, according to the BBC News website and Sustainweb.org.
In addition, commercial pesticides and feeding methods that accelerate the the growth of chickens and livestock have adversely affected food quality, according to BBC News. For example, the fat content of chickens raised on commercial farms increased from 2 percent to 22 percent over a 30 year period. This increased fat content altered the proportion of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in cooked chicken, both of which are essential for proper brain functioning.
Diet and Depression
In some instances, diet and depression are directly linked. A healthy diet with regular meals, along with professional care can maintain steady blood sugar levels, which can minimize or eliminate fatigue and irritability and help in recovering from mild or moderate depression, according to the Mental Health Foundation and the Diet Channel website. Food intolerance can also trigger severe depressive episodes, according to BBC News, describing the case of a man who had suffered depression for four decades. When he eliminated wheat and dairy from his diet, his symptoms disappeared within three weeks, the news agency reported.
Emotional Eating
Emotional eating refers to using food to mask the pain of depression, stressful life events such as romantic breakups and unemployment or general boredom and fatigue, according to the MayoClinic.com. Sometimes emotional eating creates such a strong urge that you may eat instinctively whenever you are feeling stressed or sad. Emotional eating may also result in a vicious circle of overeating, guilt and overeating to mask the guilt, the MayoClinic.com website claims.
